Hilti TE 70 ATC

This upgraded combihammer includes active torque control to reduce the possibility of twisting should a bit ever jam.

Like other combihammers, the TE 70 ATC has modes for rotary drilling, chipping, and straight drilling. It also has active torque control (ATC), an internal mechanism that immediately stops the motor should the bit ever jam. This is a useful feature to have because the last thing you want is to be thrown or have your arm twisted when the bit in a powerful drilling tool jams. The consequences of this happening are particularly dire when you’re working from a ladder or staging. The mechanism inside the TE 70 ATC/AVR senses the jam and immediately cuts power to the motor. You can see this feature demonstrated in the video below. I’d like to thank Trey Sklar for reminding me to stand to the side while he showed what happens when a “brand X” tool experiences the same kind of jam; it would have hurt to get whipped by that cord. And of course, I would not have wanted to be holding that tool and had my arm jerked when the bit jammed.

Hilti produces multiple versions of this tool. We’re looking at the top-of-the-line model (TE 70 ATC/AVR), which includes ATC and AVR (active vibration reduction). There is also a plain vanilla TE 70 and versions with ATC or AVR only.